Welcome. This book concerns computational gasdynamics, a part of the broader field of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). More specifically, put in precise technical terms, this book concerns numerical methods for simulating high-speed flows of inviscid perfect gases, especially flows containing shocks. Computational gasdynamics falls across a number of traditional disciplines including aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, applied mathematics, numerical analysis, and physics. The book should appeal to practitioners of any of these disciplines, although it does not claim to have the theoretical rigor expected of mathematics texts nor the drive towards immediate full-scale applications found in many engineering books. This book presumes an understanding of calculus, differential equations, numerical analysis, fluid dynamics, and physics and a level of sophistication of the sort found in most seniors and first-year graduate students in science, mathematics, or engineering.

I have taught courses based on the material in this book numerous times in the past five years at the University of Colorado at Boulder. These courses have variously included juniors, seniors, graduate students, professors, post-docs, and practicing engineers in a variety of different disciplines. The feedback from my students has critically guided the development and evolution of the book, taking it from a handwritten collection of notes to the present form. Researchers in the field have also reviewed many parts of the book, although the needs of newcomers have always determined the final presentation. The book contains about a semester-and-a-half worth of material. To trim the material to a one-semester length, less advanced courses should use Part III selectively and omit Part V, while advanced courses should only sample Parts I and II.